Alternative Potty Training amongst other things......

I have been thinking about writing this post for the past week----mostly because I don't want to forget how funny or messed up life is----it just depends on how you look at it.

Jonathan has been 'potty trained' for at least 3 months. He seemed quite impressed with himself and his new found status as a 'big boy.' But lately, it seems, that being a 'big boy' just doesn't have quite enough perks.

I first noticed this when I had a rash of 3 or 4 days together after Christmas when Jonathan would wet or mess his pants immediately after putting them back on after using the 'potty.' So we went back to treats, books, heavy praise and finally some cold wash offs (since he was enjoying his warm baths way too much----and 5 a day was getting a little expensive!).

After doing a 'diaper' shopping trip, I noticed that Jonathan had opened all of the Huggies size 4 diapers (that I was saving) in Jacob's room and filled his drawers with them. I guess he just couldn't resist the Tigger images stamped on each one and figured Jacob could spare a few. The next week when some diapers came that I had ordered with Mickey Mouse stamped on each diaper, he about had a nervous breakdown trying to figure out how to hide them in his room.

So, I humored Jonathan for a few days, thinking that he was just having a 'big boy' crisis and wanted to be babied for a bit. I let him put the diapers on, but still made him make regular trips to the 'potty.' He had somewhat of a problem trying to figure out how to put the diaper back on by himself. But, all was solved when he discovered that Mom also had some Pull-ups stashed away in Jacob's closet.

So, here we are-----Jonathan's alternative potty routine: He hops out of bed in the morning and immediately changes the pull-up himself before I know he's awake, so that I don't force him to put on 'underwear'. As soon as he takes off the pull-up he comes upstairs for a sack, asks me to 'knot it' and takes it out to the trash. If by chance he has an 'accident' in his pull-ups, he locks himself in the bathroom and uses about 50 wipes to clean himself up and then asks for a sack to put the mess in and promptly dumps it in the trash can outside.

So.......what's a Mom to do? I can either accept his 'alternative potty training' method or keep fighting him with the 'real' underwear----which means more screaming, fit throwing, baths, and clean-up for me. It's a hard decision----especially for one as lazy as me----choosing the path of least resistance definitely brings more peace. I just hope he decides to go with underwear before he gets to Junior High....that could be interesting-----I wonder if they make Tigger Huggies in size XXXL?

Here is a brief update on the rest of us:

****Joseph is finishing up his play this week----Oliver was great and the pit orchestra was amazing, it really filled out the play! Great job guys! Joseph also passed his Eagle Board of Review after much drilling-----more then Joseph or his friend Jake counted on, I'm sure-----Congratulations, Joseph! He's trying to fit Track practice into his driving schedule now---with the play over soon, he should have more time to be at practice.

****Samuel passed off all of his swimming requirements for his First Class Scout rank and is now working on his Swimming merit badge requirements. He quite enjoyed the part of making his clothes into flotation devices and his scout leaders were amazed at his endurance in the water! Samuel is also presenting a 5th Grade Program this month that is patterned after the Congressional Hearings and is entitled "We the people...." He's also been invited to play his Bass with the High School Orchestra when they present a suite of "Star Wars" music.

*****Benjamin is getting ready to present his 3rd Grade Science Project this Friday. We tried and tried all weekend to get his project to work. It sounded easy----make an electrical zapper by creating static electricity-----but do you think we could get that thing to work? We even followed 2 different experiments that should have created the same effect and neither worked! I told him to just have someone drag their feet across the carpet and touch the door handle and they'd for sure get a spark. But Ben's sure that the project is a lame duck and he wants a new one. Samuel told him that if he'd have just done the "Flubber" project that Samuel did for his 3rd grade Science Project, he wouldn't have run in to such problems. (Samuel's remarks went a bit like this: "You're just not very creative....my science project was marked so high because it was just so creative.") So, there you go, Benjamin's sure that 'Flubber' is the answer. I'm just cringing remembering all the 'Flubber' I had to get out of my carpet when Samuel did his project! Oh well, here we go again!

*****David has discovered that he can, indeed, read! Wahoo! This was discovered last week on Thursday as we were getting ready to go to Logan for lessons after school. David was doing his usual disgruntled routine of, "Oh well, you just hate me, noone likes me,......etc, etc....." because I hadn't brought the right snacks, or said the right thing, or whatever sets him off------I wish I knew and I'd definitely work at not setting him off! So, I could see a disaster coming with him annoying us all the way to Logan and carrying on this dialogue with his teacher, so we made a detour to the library. We picked up 3 packs of AR books and I told him to get reading. Of course, he started on his usual, "I can't read, noone thinks I can read, you just hate me, noone likes me" serenade. But after offering a few death threats if he didn't open up the packs and start reading, he opened one and pulled out a book and said "I already took an AR test on this." Dig deeper! He finally found a stack that he hadn't taken AR tests on and eventually started 'reading'----which meant he would ask me every word while I was trying to drive. Finally, after swerving past a few cars, I told him that he would just have to wait until I stopped the car at Samuel's bass lesson. Well, Mr. Patience, wasn't going to wait for that, so FINALLY he started reading himself-----of course, every word was punctuated with "I can't read....what's this word?" etc. But after awhile, he quit complaining so much and his voice seemed calmer and more sure as he tried to sound out words. He finally did it! Tonight, he had the FHE lesson, so I had him select an object out of the FHE bucket (Thank you, thank you Mary!) and look at the companion lesson. He was pretty sure he couldn't read it, but after he realized I wasn't going to be able to sit still and help him with every word, he took over and read clearly to the end of the lesson! Way to go David----you are awesome!

*****Jonathan's potty training antics have already been discussed. He's had an eventful week:
**pouring a bottle of oil in the cookie dough without Mom noticing until she was baking cookies that were sailing off the pan in their own grease
**Pouring a whole bottle of seasoning salt in the taco meat just before we sat down to eat it-----yuck!
**Opening all the red jello in the house while Mom was gone and mixing it up with water to paint the house with
**Insisting on slicing his own pickles with a very sharp knife and then dropping the bottle on his foot and slicing his toe open.
These are just a few of Jonathan's antics. Of course, we're still working on the 'naughty words' that he loves to shout at the top of his lungs to get our attention also-----the soap doesn't seem to be doing much, the hot pepper seemed to make a little more of an impression, but was forgotten in a day or two. I'm open for suggestions---obviously my methods are not very successful!

*****Jacob is trying to learn to crawl but really doesn't like being on his tummy at all! He will hold up his arms and legs when he's placed on his tummy and rock back and forth on his tummy. Maybe he likes that feeling of being on an ocean rather then crawling around on the hard floor! He has reached an all time high weight of 21.5 pounds-----he is growing and trying to catch up with his brothers. He loves to clap when he's 'all done' and when he wants to play patty cake. He loves books and will gaze at them for long periods of time and protest loudly if they're taken away. He is still a cute little bug and we love him to death!

*****Jeff and Me----we are just hanging on for the ride! What an adventure every day is----not too many do-nothing, calm days. Saturday was wonderful with all of the beautiful sunshine and warmth-----can't wait for Spring to stay around! I've also been trying a nutritional program called 'Isagenix'. It is quite amazing! It is based on 'nutritional cleansing' which I thought was sort of like yoga and all those things that I don't think I have time for. But I have never felt so much energy and calm----they don't seem like they go together, but I feel like I have enough energy to get some things done (definitely not close to all, but more then before) and I feel much calmer and less up tight with myself and the kids. Plus, I don't have scales, but I did lose a total of 17 inches in 8 days, which seemed quite amazing since I wasn't starving and or doing a lot of extra exercising other then some heavy duty Spring Cleaning. We'll see how things go, but for the moment, I am impressed and feeling better then I've felt in quite awhile!

Happy Spring!